35x04 Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story

[6.0/10 on a Selman era Simpsons scale] I feel about this episode the same way I do about the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia parody of Making a Murder. Which is to say, I know the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes story, but I didn’t watch the 2019 Alex GIbney documentary, so a lot of the specific parts of the parody are lost on me. Maybe I’d appreciate this more if I had the laughs of recognition from real life figures and events and how they were depicted, but this one is mostly over my head.

That said, ideally, this sort of thing would work even if you don’t know the specific reference that provided the inspiration (see: “22 Short Films About Springfield”). This episode is an amiable enough spoof of glossy documentaries and corporate charlatans, but there’s not much to it. I’m not sure I laughed once. (Maybe the Beatles conversations?)

There’s nothing wrong with a Simpsons episode being more pleasant and interesting than downright hilarious, but I also didn’t think “Thirst Trap” had much of a take on the whole Elizabeth Holmes thing beyond “Yeah, these people are full of hot air.” There’s some mild cleverness in using desalination as the grift, and super sweet sodas as the masking agent, but that’s about it.

I also don’t know what to make of the Burns/Persephone romance. On the one hand, I kind of like the idea of Burns genuinely finding love somehow. On the other, he’s not a character with the emotional depth to make that plausible, and “Thirst Trap” doesn’t really do the work to explain why that would be different for Persephone. It just is. Persephone is barely a character, more of a just a parody of a broad archetype, so you never get the sense of who she is or why she and Mr. Burns would connect. I’ll admit to having my heartstrings tugged just a little when Mr. Burns bounced by himself sadly, but I don’t know if the episode really earned that.

Likewise, the start-up culture take-offs seemed pretty thin to me. The show was a little more successful with the broader documentary spoofs (it’s a coup getting both Peter Jackson and Monty’s cousin, Ken Burns on board). But even then, it leaves the parody feeling a bit scattershot and aimless.

Overall, this one wasn’t my favorite, but part of it may just be that I wasn’t in on the joke. I do admire The Simpsons doing a format-bender that’s all documentary style; I just wish the results were a little better.